Vehicles include instrument panels to communicate information indicative of operation to an operator. Motor vehicles include instrument panels with several gauges and dials that communicate vehicle conditions such as speed, engine rpm, temperature, oil pressure along with many other operational parameters. The instrument panels also include images that illuminate to alert an operator to specific conditions of the vehicle. These images are known as tell tales and are activated to alert a driver of a condition that requires attention such as a check engine light, or a light that indicates that the tires require attention.
The tell tales typically communicate little information, but are intended to simply alert the drive that something requires additional attention. For example, in the case of a check engine light, the operator is simply prompted to have a vehicle service department check the vehicle. The operator is not provided any further information as to the urgency of any corrective action. Typical instrument panels include limited space and therefore are not capable of displaying all the different levels of information that would fully communicate vehicle conditions to an operator. Moreover, much information is only required when a vehicle operating parameter is outside of desired operating ranges.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting a context of this disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.